New Survey Finds Doing Business in Southern California Remains Costly

According to Claremont McKenna College's Rose Institute, and Kosmont Companies, most businesses moving out of California are going to lower-cost states. CLAREMONT, Calif. -- December 19, 2022 /PRNewswire/ -- The Kosmont-Rose Institute Cost of Doing Business Survey 2022 finds that California has a higher cost of doing business than other western states. Since 2003, the annual survey has been published. It shows that 64% of California businesses have moved to other states in the last 30 years, including Arizona, Texas and Texas. "Rising home prices, rising office rents, labor cost, and burdensome new state laws are all factors to be aware of this year, as these costs continue their upward spiral." Nevada's Las Vegas is the most popular destination for California businesses looking to relocate out of California. From 1990 to 2019, there were 2,832 California-based businesses that moved to Las Vegas. New York City had 1,455 of these businesses. Other top destinations include Reno, Nevada with 1,088 businesses; Phoenix, Arizona with 883 businesses; Portland, Oregon with 868 businesses; and Austin, Texas (with 816). The cost of doing business in Southern California is higher in Los Angeles County, than Orange, San Bernardino or Riverside counties. California's minimum wage will rise to $15.50 an hour starting January 1, 2023. This is more than twice the hourly minimum wage of Texas, Idaho, or Utah. A few small cities in California were included on the list of most affordable cities to do business. These include Inland Empire cities like Yucaipa and Yucca Valley. The Survey lists the ten most expensive cities in Texas as Fort Worth, Irving, San Antonio, and San Antonio. Larry Kosmont (CEO and Chairman of Kosmont Companies) stated that California is still a great place to do business, despite the migration of businesses to western states. California's high prices make it difficult for businesses to remain in California. The Kosmont Rose Institute Cost of Doing Business Survey Ranking is based upon seven variables, including sales tax, utility taxes, median home value, minimum wage, FBI crime index, and average office rent. In 2019, the Rose Institute and Kosmont Companies published their last survey using 2018 data.

The full survey report, list of the most and least expensive cities for doing business and full rankings of the 158 cities are available at roseinstitute.org/costofdoingbusiness.CONTACT: Kenneth Miller, EMAIL, 909-607-7575 View original content to download multimedia:URL.htmlSOURCE Claremont McKenna College